Some educators believe that making sure students are equipped with grit is just as important as getting them ready for the SAT. Tim Pannell/CORBIS

September 19, 2011

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Dominic Randolph, headmaster of the prestigious Riverdale Country School in New York, believes character counts — perhaps even more than standardized tests. As documented by Paul Tough in The New York Times, Randolph has refashioned his campus to teach kids character — "those essential traits of mind and habit that were drilled into [Randolph] at boarding school in England and that also have deep roots in American history." In the past, Randolph says, "whether it's the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, you could be successful... Strangely, we've now forgotten that." Now, some schools including Riverdale are downplaying conventional measuring sticks like standardized tests and using a character education program that emphasizes attributes like bravery, humor, wisdom, and zest. Good idea?

Maybe. But let's be honest about what we're doing here: These "character" programs "cram some middle class white values into the heads of lower class blacks and Hispanics" who demonstrate the most potential, and, I suspect, have the highest IQs, says Steve Sailer at iSteve Blog. That's not a bad thing — "good kids should get some breaks in life, like getting to go to school away from the knuckleheads" — but we shouldn't deny what these programs are really about."KIPP, again"